2 NOTES ON OLD HELPER AND OLD BELPER BOOKS. 



existence dating as early as 1473, Sept. ist, whereby Thomas 

 Whiltington, of Helper, in the county of Derby, and Margaret, 

 his wife, granted a messuage and seven acres of land in that 

 place to John Whytington, their eldest son.* One of the 

 witnesses of this charter subsequently became the owner of 

 Alderwasley. The prosperity of the 15th and i6th centuries 

 appears to have died away in the 17th, as will be seen from 

 the Parliamentary Commissioners' Report of 1650, in which 

 Belper is described ''As a hamlet appertayning to Dufifield and 

 hath a Chapell two myles distant." It is in the quaint old 

 chapel dedicated to St. John Baptist that the antiquity of 

 Belper centres ; a full and interesting description will be 

 found in the " Churches of Derbyshire." The chapel dates 

 from the 13th century. Since the building of the "New 

 Church " it became somewhat dilapidated from disuse and 

 neglect. A few years ago, whilst the late Canon Hey was 

 vicar, the old place was carefully restored by the Rev. F. A. 

 Friend. The chapel yard had become a happy hunting ground 

 for the youngsters of Chapel Hollow. The vestry now in use 

 was built at the beginning of the present century, and was 

 utilised, in addition to its sacred offices, as a savings bank and 

 a boys' school, under the guidance of the Rev. Matthew Tun- 

 stall. The church contains a small two-handled chalice, date 

 i685-6.t 



It is said that about the year 1800 a small gold coin of the 

 reign of Augustus Csesar was found in the neighbourhood of 

 Belper, and that on several occasions military weapons have 

 been dug up. The Manor Farm House situated in the Coppice 

 is said to adjoin the site of the old Manor, and several silver 

 coins have been found here, including one of the reign of 

 Edward I. and one of the reign of Stephen. :J: These different 

 discoveries tend to confirm the statement that John of Gaunt 

 once resided here. The contour of the land pointed out as 



* Major Lowe, F.S.A., D. A. and N. H. S. Journal, Vol. iii., p. 161. 



t " Eucharistic Plate," Dr. Cox. 



+ " New View of Derbyshire," D. P. Davis, Vol, i., p. 344. 



